


Sympathy For The Devil ~ A Cosima Fanfic

by JulianGreystoke



Category: The Savior's Champion, The Savior's Sister
Genre: Backstory, Childhood, Gen, History, Jenna Moreci, Memory, Past, Sisters, TSC - Freeform, TSS, The cyborg queen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:13:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27560563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JulianGreystoke/pseuds/JulianGreystoke
Summary: A little girl is called to the Palace to become a sister to the beloved Savior. But no one has asked this girl what she wants.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Sympathy For The Devil ~ A Cosima Fanfic

**Author's Note:**

> Cosima is a deeply intriguing character in Jenna Meorci's The Savior's Sister. If you read between the lines you might find a tragic heroine and I have decided to give her a back story as I doubt there will be one in the book (I'm only half way through). Perhaps you are meant to hate Cosima, but I think there is much more to her.
> 
> I may write more, I may not. We'll see when the madness takes me again.

“Cosima, come here baby!”

Cosima tucked her dolly under her arm and hurried to her mother's room. Mama had her chair set in front of her big mirror. Cosima's heart leaped. Mama was holding the ivory brush! The little girl rushed across the red and gold carpet; once lavish and plush now fraying at the edges, and bounced on her toes. “May I, Mama? May I?” She didn't dare sit in her mother's special chair in front of her mother's vanity, without permission.

“Of course, baby.” Mama smiled. She had the widest, sweetest smile in the world and it warmed Cosima like the sun. She pulled herself into the chair, careful not to drop her dolly. Mama stood behind her and began to brush Cosima's curls. When her brothers wanted to make fun of her they called Cosima “fire head”. They asked if she climbed into the embers and set her hair ablaze. Cosima had big brothers, but Mama was pregnant again, just beginning to show. Cosima was hopeful she'd get a sister. To be a big sister seemed like a wonderful thing.

Mama hummed quietly as she gently worked through Cosima's hair. This was a special treat. Mama only brushed Cosima's hair in her big chair a few times a year. Cosima finger-combed her dolly's dark brown, yarn, locks. Someone had claimed that The Savior had dark hair and so everyone was making dolls to match. Cosima had begged for a Savior doll when they had been at the market. Tavro had told her she was a silly girl, but Papa had bought Cosima the doll. Cosima looked at her mother's face in the faintly tarnished mirror and her heart stuttered. “Mama? What's wrong?”

Mama was crying. Tears rolling gently down her pale cheeks as she hummed. She tried to smile, but her lips trembled. “Oh sweet girl.” Mama tipped her head to one side, as though trying to understand her daughter. “Something very special is going to happen for you.”

Cosima bounced up, not caring that the brush tugged in her hair. She turned around and knelt on the seat cushion, grasping the back of the chair. “What special? What special?” She hesitated. “Why are you still crying, Mama?”

“You love the Savior don't you, sweet girl?” Mama lifted Cosima's chin with a gentle finger to look her in the eye.

“Yes mama.” Cosima said dutifully. She had been told all about the special girl who lived in the walled palace. She was Cosima's age and Cosima thought that made her special too somehow.

“Would you like to be friends with The Savior?” Mama asked, her voice tremoring with her tears.

Cosima considered for a moment. She looked at her dolly, then nodded. “Yes Mama. That would be nice.”

“Good,” Mama's smile was so tremulous that it looked really to shatter like glass. She cupped her daughter's face, catching one of Cosima's red curls around her thumb. “Do you remember how Papa died to help the Sovereign?”

Cosima screwed up her face, trying to recall. She had been a baby when Papa died, whatever that meant. She supposed it meant that he just didn't come home any more, and it made Mama and her brother's cry sometimes. “Yes.” she said, even though she wasn't sure.

“Well, The Sovereign wants to reward our family.”

Cosima blinked at her Mama, uncomprehending.

“He wants to give us a special treat. He wants to give you a special treat! Thank goodness you were born a girl, or things wouldn't have worked out so well.”

“A special treat for girls?” Cosima's eyes brightened. Wait until she rubbed this in Tavro and Lucca's faces!

“Exactly.” Mama set the brush aside and knelt by the chair, looking up at Cosima. “You are going to go and live at the palace! You're going to be like a princess and you're going to be friends with the Savior! Won't that be fun?”

“Yes!” Cosima squealed, throwing her arms around her mama. She had no idea that Mama, and Tavro, and Lucca would not be joining her.

~~~~~

The wagon jostled and bumped along the road, which was already giving way to a smoother track as they approached the capital city. Cosima sat in the back with her brothers, clutching her doll to her and trying not to cry. The sides of the wagon shaded her from the heat of the day and a gentle breeze played with her curls.

When she had realized that her family would not be joining her in the palace she had cried for days and refused to eat. Lucca, the eldest, had finally coaxed her around in his gentle way. He'd spoon fed her two meals before she finally agreed she could eat like a big girl again. Mama explained that the Sovereign was going to take care of the family forever thanks to Cosima.

Lucca had to carry her, screaming and wailing, to the wagon that would take them to the palace.

Now her tears had dried up and her throat felt like sand. She clutched her little Savior to her so tight her arms ached, but she hardly noticed.

Tavro was in a sour mood. He was upset that his baby sister was not only be bestowed with such an honor, but that she didn't want it. He called her a “stupid girl” and pouted while she cried. Now he fixed her with a steely stare across the wagon and whispered, “You know you won't be her real friend, Cosi. She won't love you. You'll always be less than her and don't you ever forget it! You're just a nobody and she's the god-queen.”

Cosima sniffed and buried her face in her dolly's hair before she could start crying again. Her cheeks burned as red as her hair.

“Tavro, stop!” Lucca snapped.

“Don't fight, please! Not today.” Mama called from the front of the wagon where she steered their old mare, Strawberry. It struck Cosima that she would never see Strawberry again and somehow fresh tears sprang to her stinging eyes.

Before long they were making their way through the city that surrounded the palace, Cosima couldn't bring herself to enjoy the brightly colored buildings and lavishly dressed people. She was wearing her best dress too, a pale pink one that mama said made her look like a flower petal. She didn't want to be a flower, or special, or anything except a little girl back home with her family, but no one seemed interested in what she wanted any more.

Her mother spoke with a stern-faced man at the palace gate. He had a spear and a scar. Cosima ducked lower in the cart, but he peered in at her. It felt like being eyed by a snake.

The spear-man finally nodded and gestured them on. Cosima swiped fiercely at her eyes. Her face would be all splotchy when she met the Savior. She didn't want to embarrass Mama like that. She arranged her dress so it wouldn't wrinkle.

When the cart came to a stop Lucca scooped her out and carried her on his hip. He didn't ask if she wanted to be carried, but perhaps he suspected she would try to run. She didn't know where she would run to, but it wasn't the wildest idea that was passing through her mind. Maybe the Savior wouldn't want her. Maybe they would change their mind and let her family stay. Or perhaps a dragon would swoop down and carry her away. Each seemed equally likely.

Two guards came and led the family inside, through massive, golden doors that shimmered in the Savior's perfect sunlight.

The palace was beautiful, with arching ceilings so high Cosima thought they might be a second sky. She gaped at open, green plazas and marble floors. How could anyone call this place home? Everywhere they went guards watched them like hawks, seemingly endlessly suspicious. Cosima wondered what they were so afraid of. Once she caught sight of two people kissing somewhat frantically in an ante-room. Even that looked unnatural in this place.

The family stopped before another gigantic door. There were more guards and Cosima felt like they were looking right through her. One stalked over and snatched her doll from her hands. She couldn't help it, she wailed. “Noooooo!” Tears burst into her eyes no matter how hard she had been trying to keep them back.

“It could be a weapon.” The man said. He turned the doll over dismissively. “No outside objects. She'll be given toys.”

“It's only a doll.” Mama pleaded. She was crying too, doing a better job of keeping herself together than Cosima, though her face was just as streaked and blotchy.

“No outside objects.” The man said again. He tossed her dolly to the floor and kicked it into a corner.

“It's alright, baby.” Mama petted Cosima's hair as she buried her face into Lucca's shoulder. He rocked her gently, like he had when she was very little.

“Say your goodbyes.” The guard said flatly.

“What?” Mama rounded on him. “Am I not to meet the girl might daughter will be serving for the rest of her life?”

“Until she is officially presented, no one may look upon the Savior.”

“But-” Mama cut herself off. She seemed to be fighting something inside herself. Cosima envisioned a fire inside Mama. It was barely contained and Cosima wished Mama would set it loose and give these stupid men a piece of her mind. Instead Mama nodded tightly. She turned to Lucca and reached for Cosima. Lucca didn't seem willing to let her go and she willingly wrapped her arms around his neck.

“No.” Lucca said, his voice husky and strained. His arms tightened around Cosima and he moved to turn away. “Find anther girl.”

“She was chosen, Lucca.” Mama said. “We don't get to decide. It's a great honor from the Sovereign.”

“Stuff the Sovereign!” Tarvo snapped. He'd been silent and sullen, collected inside himself. Now he glared with all the fire a twelve year old could muster.

“You will be silent!” One of the guards barked and Tavro flinched.

“Time to go, sweet girl.” Mama said. She locked eyes with Lucca and he softened.

“No! Nooooo! Lucca!” Cosima wailed, grabbing for her brother as he let her go.

Mama tucked Cosima into a hug, whispering into her hair, “Cosi, listen. You must take care of yourself. Do not let the Savior rule you. Do whatever you must to take care of yourself, daughter. Do not let them erase who you are, no matter what. Know that you have worth and you are loved.”

Cosima couldn't breathe as panic flooded her body, but she nodded, her chin against the crook of her mother's neck.

“Now, Cosima, stand tall, be the bravest girl in the whole world, and walk like a princess to meet your queen.” She set Cosima on the floor.

Cosima managed to draw in two choking breaths and refused to let them turn into sobs. She looked at her family's beloved faces, swearing to herself that she would never forget them. One of the guards offered her his hand. He had a kinder eye than the others. She refused it. She raised her chin and walked, her curls shining, her eyes sparking. She strode through the big door and into a world she could never have be prepared for, to serve a person she could not completely understand.

She never saw her family again.


End file.
